Is Nikola Jokic the best passer ever?

Nikola jokic might be the best offensive player that we've ever seen if that sounds extreme to you just wait a few minutes for instance jokic is shooting 68 on his two-point shots Wilt Chamberlain is the only other player to do that and average 20 points a game jokic actually leads the league in mid-range shooting this season clocking in at a comical 61 percent he's only second in the league in scoring efficiency on his drives with a meager 74 true shooting but all of that is insignificant compared to his passing when jokic emerged as an upper echelon offensive player a few years ago the question on everyone's mind was whether he was the best big man passer of all time but we no longer need the Big Man part of that sentence turn on any single jokic game and you're likely to see multiple passes that most players in the world can't make now it's hard to rank individual passes but I'll try to do it to make this point these passes are all from the same game against Memphis recently I think this one is his 10th best pass in this game looking to the right to momentarily confuse a Defender and create more space for a streaking teammate here's number nine an inverted pick and roll with a small guard flowing from a dribble to hit the roll man for a layup good point guards who aren't great passers will miss an opening like this on an empty side of the court but we're still just warming up my number eight pass to this game Springs yokic on a cut where he leaves it for Aaron Gordon who meets the wall of Jaron Jackson only to score on the putback and watch what jokic does to Gordon's Defender he's sealing him off nicely but jokic hangs in the air and mimics throwing a two-handed pass to the corner only to let the ball go and drop it off to Gordon um since we're starting to have fun number seven is some more puppeteering looking straight ahead so this Defender is worried about that roll pass we just saw only to whip it to the corner instead this kind of look away while intending to hit a corner shooter is reserved for some of the best passers in the sport although jok's accuracy was a touch off on that one so number six is just a better version of that pass whipping a curveball to the side pocket and the ball is almost all the way to the receiver before Brandon Clark even reacts which unlocks the show and go and turns it into an easy dunk number five would be one of the best passes of the year for most NBA players a 40-foot Blended dribble bounce pass into a window that basically looked covered my goodness number four is an even tighter cover and this filthy Arrow out of his side quiver and John Morant is all over this Bruce Brown cut and it doesn't even matter because of jokic's Luke Skywalker accuracy and man Brown can get up his third best pass of the game was even more accurate spinning Baseline to force a double and sidearming it so this Defender nor this Defender can get to it and that gets Gordon free throws and watch yokits change the angle of his arms so Clark can't deflect it while also throwing it to where only Gordon could catch it nonsense his second best pass to me remember this is all from one game is the old drive left turn and hit the cutter when the double team comes with the over the head no look bullet that's right on the money and what's number one you ask oh I'll tell you what we saw the man hiked it through his legs without looking and placed it so perfectly that brown didn't even break stride one thing we actually didn't see in that game was a great touch pass where jokic barely possesses the ball before pinging it along to a teammate because he has the spidey sense to read the future and the peripheral vision to spot the smallest shifts on the floor then pass before anyone knew what happened all of these gifts can create the impossible a one-handed missile through three Defenders that requires pinpoint accuracy speed and audacity and it all started before he caught the ball when a teammate found a microscopic pocket in the defense so jokic could add to his greatest hits a few years ago when discussing LeBron James one of the best passers in NBA history himself I laid out some key tools for mastering passing things like speed of delivery anticipation and manipulation Magic Johnson had all of these gifts in Spades so did Larry Bird where it felt like he could see the future at times but jokic is right there too he knows where everyone is thinks a step ahead and has the height and dexterity to deliver the ball perhaps the most underappreciated part of his playmaking is the way he Alters his delivery angles to bend passes around Defenders we've seen him take the dribble and blend it into a sidearm wrap around and he uses his height like a cheat code just Feathering it over taller defenders in ways most players couldn't even dream of his hand eye coordination is so absurd that he can alter his delivery mid pass going under and around a Defender because they threw up their hands on this one he audibles against two Defenders and slips it sideways to a cutting Brown and he's an expert at disguising his passes turning a left-handed dribble on the fast break into the pass itself Joker's favorite sleight of hand is probably the shot pass where he goes through the shooting motion so Defenders get ready to rebound only to pass it off to a teammate this pairs naturally with his height because he can freeze Defenders while creating a passing angle over the top perhaps the quintessential jokic pass is the simplest he just hits Cutters when it doesn't seem like they're open off of this Miss Brown's Defender is running stride for stride with him but jokic sees a layup and throws it anyway this isn't just about these horizontal Windows either but the vertical ones too the Pelicans have this play defended perfectly at least in theory jokic knows Zion Williamson is helping toward him which leaves a five foot nine Defender to slide down and cover Gordon so Joker throws it to where only Aaron can catch it this vertical passing Dimension is something older Generations couldn't really access since lobs weren't really a part of a more congested game back then this makes cross-generational comparisons somewhat tricky because the passing chances in each era were a little different and comparing passers is hard anyway because it's difficult to know when scoring stops and when passing starts since great players use the threat of their scoring to create new passing chances Steve Nash might be the best example of this in NBA history carving out passes from thin air by dribbling around in traffic Nash's constant probing and absurdly quick trigger might have made him the most voluminous great passer ever slinging so many absurd completions every game that it was almost taken for granted if Nash is a dark horse Contender for the goat passer magic probably holds the unofficial title for most fans he picked teams apart in transition with his pace and flare but he was also deadly in the half court using speed and creativity to puncture defenses bird might have been the most valuable Outlet passer of all time and the best passer ever on the Move two pretty big cards to hold in this showdown and even someone like Jason Kidd Uncorked Madness on a regular basis but jokic is right there with all of them he makes just about every type of pass in the book and he moves Defenders around with his head positioning and the mere glance of an eye no player in the league right now has a higher on-court offensive rating than Joker Denver scores an incredible 125 points per 100 with him out there but their offensive rating drops to just one whole four when he's on the bench which is 270th out of 271 qualifying players largely because his passing creates that much value for his team an incredible 57 of jokic's assist this year have gone for layups whereas Tyrese Halliburton the league leader in assists per game sees just 39 of his dimes and at The Rim oh and one more thing jokic's passes in this video are from this season only a mere 27 games of basketball that's all it takes for him to generate a highlight reel that can compete with just about anyone to ever lace them up so yeah his passing makes him one of the best offensive players I've ever seen I don't know if he's definitively better than magic or Nash or any of the other goat contenders but I do know that he should be one of the first names included in that conversation because Nikola jokic might just be the best passer that the sport has ever seen if you're interested in the stats like the one in this video check out patreon.com thinking basketball our Deluxe members can compare the best passers scores plus minus leaders team half court offenses and more updating every day patreon.com thinking basketball let me know your favorite passers down below and where you think yokich racks up and as always I do hope that you are having a great day

Channel: Thinking Basketball

Views: 1,298,929

Keywords: NBA, NBA film analysis, NBA Analytics, Thinking Basketball, highlights, NBA highlights, NBA film breakdown, NBA scouting reports, scouting reports, Xs and Os, Nikola Jokic, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, LeBron James, Steve Nash, Jason Kidd, GOAT passer, GOAT passing, Jokic passing highlights, best passer ever, Jokic passes ranked, Offensive GOAT

Id: KsE3ZcQ25Zw

Length: 11min 4sec (664 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 23 2022